A gallery of Namie, a town evacuated after the Fukushima nuclear plant accident.

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Two years have passed since the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that led to the nuclear reactor accident in Fukushima, Japan in March 2011. This past month, Tamotsu Baba, mayor of Namie, a town only a few miles north of the nuclear plant, invited Google to explore the city shaken by the earthquake and abandoned following the spread of radiation from Fukushima. This slideshow contains scenes from our virtual exploration of the town that formerly held over 20,000 residents, and now plays home to garbage, a few cleanup crews, and many ghostly abandoned structures.

A map of the roads around Namie that you can view with Google Maps. The town's mayor, Tamotsu Baba, invited Google to tour the town evacuated in March 2011 following the Fukushima plant disaster.

The shuttered post office in central Namie. When citizens were evacuated, they were moved to temporary housing in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, where the town's government installed a whole-body dosimeter to evaluate former Namie residents' internal radiation levels.

Outside town, there are many piles of garbage and debris as well as abandoned buildings. Namie and its outskirts were damaged during the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that affected the Fukushima plant.

A close-up of the disheveled building.

A collapsed stone building across the street from a Toho Bank.

A fallen building next to another with its roof tiles coming loose.

An abandoned gas station and highway. Before the disaster, Namie was home to 22,000 people who were evacuated following the plant meltdown.

A couple of men wearing hard hats who appear to be doing some kind of cleanup outside this building. We spotted a few people moving around town, though all seemed to be part of a cleanup crew.

An abandoned hospital with garbage scattered along both sides of the street.

According to Google Maps, there's a McDonald's inside this abandoned shopping mall.

An overflowing garbage locker on a street in town.

The empty Namie Elementary School.

The playground across the street from the elementary school.

The fallen buildings in Namie are presumably a result of the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Even though some fell...

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Casey Johnston
Casey Johnston is the former Culture Editor at Ars Technica, and now does the occasional freelance story. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Applied Physics. Twitter@caseyjohnston

90 Reader Comments

I wonder what the banana rating is for living there now? Is it just fear that keeps the people away, or is the background radiation levels really that high?

For the majority of the affected area, the evacuation itself have caused far more damage (psychological and otherwise) than the radiation ever would have. The fear mongering has heaped totally unnecessary tragedy on top of an already disastrous tsunami. Not only that, there has been a massive waste of resources poured into "cleaning up" areas which are still far below natural background levels of radiation in much of the world.

If we were as absurdly overzealous about radiation levels, we would be evacuating cities like Denver, and banning bananas and milk, which naturally contain radioactive elements. We would also have to abandon coal power plants if they were held to the same strict standards as nuclear plants. (Though radiation aside, the particulate pollution is a serious cause for concern...)

Agreed, coal releases more radiation every year into the environment than all nuclear accidents combined. But it is also said that it only increases from background by maybe 5%.

Quote:

coal-plants carry more radioactive wastes into the environment than nuclear plants producing the same amount of energy. Plant-emitted radiation carried by coal-derived fly ash delivers 100 times more radiation to the surrounding environment than does the normal operation of a similarly productive nuclear plant.

Every time I see pictures of Fukushima they remind me of the callousness of men towards other men. No executive was hanged over this tragedy. None of those greedy bastards got murdered. No self-respecting politician demanded justice for those who got massacred.

We get that Darwin rules. What we don't get is that Darwin could be subverted to such levels of horror.

Why should anyone in Japan or anywhere else be surprised that something like this happened? I mean building a nuclear plant in a earthquake prone country is already enough of an issue but building one right on the waters edge of a tsunami prone coastline is madness.

Who are you going hang? Obviously it was approved by the government and most Japanese people or it never would have been built there in the first place. This just goes to show that even first world countries can do things that boggles the imagination.

On Feb 28, 2013, the United Nations' World Health Organization WHO declared that «residents of areas hit by the highest doses of radiation face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won't be detectable».

What we are seeing in Japan is the triumph of the decades-long propaganda war waged by the environmentalist lobby against the safest, cleanest, most reliable, CO2-freest power source we have.

I'm not going to get into a debate about nuclear energy nor try to fuel it; I just thought it was an interesting perspective from people that used to live there and can't go back, as their house is in an area still considered unsafe (according to radiation maps issued by the government).

Not all radiation is the same. Higher levels of X-rays or gamma radiation are much less destructive than low level exposure to some radioactive elements. If you ingest radioactive strontium, your body will incorporate it into your bones and nervous system, just like it was calcium. The long term problem will be things like ground water contamination. There will also be issues with sea food for quite some time.

I must admit to some disappointment that a cleanup crew is there. While the town has been abandoned for two years, it would be interesting to watch how a suddenly deserted urban environment decays over time.

Every time I see pictures of Fukushima they remind me of the callousness of men towards other men. No executive was hanged over this tragedy. None of those greedy bastards got murdered. No self-respecting politician demanded justice for those who got massacred.

We get that Darwin rules. What we don't get is that Darwin could be subverted to such levels of horror.

Why should anyone in Japan or anywhere else be surprised that something like this happened? I mean building a nuclear plant in a earthquake prone country is already enough of an issue but building one right on the waters edge of a tsunami prone coastline is madness.

Who are you going hang? Obviously it was approved by the government and most Japanese people or it never would have been built there in the first place. This just goes to show that even first world countries can do things that boggles the imagination.

The real problem in Japan was the same as in New Orleans when Katrina hit. To much reliance was place on the seawalls and levees not failing was not included in the design of the nuclear plant or adequate plans to deal with a evacuation due to the levee failing. I remember reports saying the backup generators were flooded when the tsunami topped the seawall. True hindsight is always perfect but if there was a chance of flooding way put the generators on a floor above the top of the sea wall.

The construction codes in Japan and California include provisions for earthquake design and are revised as we learn more. In Japan the killer was the tsunami not the earthquake and the nuclear actually did quite well structurally except for a little detail of the generators being flooded.

The US is divided up into seismic zones for structural purposes based on the risk of very damaging earthquakes.

On Feb 28, 2013, the United Nations' World Health Organization WHO declared that «residents of areas hit by the highest doses of radiation face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won't be detectable».

What we are seeing in Japan is the triumph of the decades-long propaganda war waged by the environmentalist lobby against the safest, cleanest, most reliable, CO2-freest power source we have.

A nuclear incident doesn't only kill slowly, with radiation, it also kills fast, with explosions, overworking, stress, heat, hard radiation.

And if the radiation will kill people we might not see within the next twenty years.

?I have great difficulty believing that a fatal heart attack in a man over 50 was caused by radiation."Reports said he had worked three hours a day" - so not exactly overwork either, unless he was massively unfit.

The consequences of the nuclear incident should be an asterisk within the tsunami/quake catastrophe that killed 18,000 people, and yet the nutties parade one heart attack as if it had anything to do with radiation.

A nuclear incident doesn't only kill slowly, with radiation, it also kills fast, with explosions, overworking, stress, heat, hard radiation.

And if the radiation will kill people we might not see within the next twenty years.

Thanks for showing your reading comprehension. He had a heart attack. The 3 people that have died so far at the site. 2 were from the initial tsunami wave and flooding. One from heart attack. To pin this on radiation seems farcical, even sarcasm.

"The cumulative radiation dose the worker received was measured at 25.24 millisieverts". 100 in a year is where it might make a difference maybe. 50 is US maximum allowed at work. 2,000 is where it becomes life threatening.

To those whining about the few thousand of residents and farmers that had to move. Three Gorges Dam, "As of June 2008, China relocated 1.24 million residents". The TVA moved 15,000 families. There are consequences for everything in life. Three Gorges Dam moved alot of people but at least there will not be any more "In 1954 the river flooded 193,000 km2 (74,518 sq mi), killing 33,169 people and forcing 18,884,000 people to move." No flooding and can move ships on the waterway year round.

Nuclear power is very safe, incredibly safe, really inconceivably safe for the power generated. If you want a bad guy look for coal, he's standing right in front of you - and he has always been there.

Every time I see pictures of Fukushima they remind me of the callousness of men towards other men. No executive was hanged over this tragedy. None of those greedy bastards got murdered. No self-respecting politician demanded justice for those who got massacred.

We get that Darwin rules. What we don't get is that Darwin could be subverted to such levels of horror.

Hanged over which part? Allowing a tsunami? Using radioactive stuff to power a nuke plant?

Yes, they should have built the seawall higher; did you warn them before the tsunami? In hindsight it's pretty obvious to everyone.

What does Darwin have to do with anything? It somehow coincides with your need to rush out with torches and pitchforks?

That's a pretty bad attitude you got there.

Speaking of the looting mentality, it's comments exactly like A314's that are commonly used to justify that kind of willful, destructive, criminal activity when it takes place in the US. It's an excellent post as it shows the vacuity and mindlessness of the looting mentality. The Japanese wouldn't put up with that for a split second, but more importantly it would never cross the minds of most Japanese that the answer to natural disasters is to steal from their neighbors and to destroy their property. It isn't in the Japanese ethos, and it comes from being highly civilized. Authorities in the US are far too lenient with looting mobs. The Japanese have suffered much throughout their history, some of it self inflicted (WWII, etc.), but most of it not (the country sits on the rim of fire.) The Japanese show us all that it isn't what knocks a person down that is important, it is how he reacts when he gets back on his feet.

Maybe so. Since you so radiation proof why don't you go live there, buy up some of that beach front property while it is still affordable?

By the way the Post Office, elementary school, gas stations and shopping mauls of this town had the appearance of a very western / American urban sprawl.

Generation IV nuclear reactors have not come to the rescue yet. One quarter (104/442) of the working reactors in the world are stationed in the U.S.

Nuclear reactors satisfy only 1/5 of our (U.S.) power demand. This nation uses about 540 billion kWh per year just for commercial and residential lighting. If you're going to do without coal then you're going to have to unscrew four out of every five light bulbs. Such action would also dramatically increase the cost of electrical power; the average present cost for which is about 10.0 cents per kilowatt-hour. Lets not forget that the reactors currently on-line worldwide are producing about 12,000 metric tons of radioactive waste per year; stuff that can not be idly swept under the carpet.

A nuclear incident doesn't only kill slowly, with radiation, it also kills fast, with explosions, overworking, stress, heat, hard radiation.

And if the radiation will kill people we might not see within the next twenty years.

Thanks for showing your reading comprehension. He had a heart attack. The 3 people that have died so far at the site. 2 were from the initial tsunami wave and flooding. One from heart attack. To pin this on radiation seems farcical, even sarcasm.

...

A nuclear incident doesn't only kill slowly, with radiation, it also kills fast, with explosions, overworking, stress, heat, hard radiation.

And if the radiation will kill people we might not see within the next twenty years.

I note many of the pictures have one or more blurred out rectangles. I can understand that this needs to be done sometimes, but I'm curious as to the reasons here. Sometimes it's a single character in an otherwise clear store sign, or a single photo among many in a storefront window, or a seemingly random patch of ground. Plainly, there are sensitivities or legalities involved that I'm not privy to. This makes me curious about the general reasons (specific examples must of course remain unexplained.) Any clues?

These are people's homes, neighbourhoods, and businesses, and we're sitting comfortably in our own homes or workplaces cyber-rubber-necking and reading witty little captions like "See right through you", "Buyer beware", and "Remember what happens in Fallout, kids."

Way to post and run Casey! Running out of article *cough* blog *cough* ideas for the week? You couldn't include any investigation to answer a few of the most simple questions about a town abandoned for two years? Just to help you out, here are a quick few off the top of my head:

- What is the current radiation level in town?- What are the local/regional/national government's plans for this town?- Raze the town or just leave it?- Why was there a work crew fixing up only one building?- Is there a check point or any security/barricades preventing people from roaming in?

I note many of the pictures have one or more blurred out rectangles. I can understand that this needs to be done sometimes, but I'm curious as to the reasons here. Sometimes it's a single character in an otherwise clear store sign, or a single photo among many in a storefront window, or a seemingly random patch of ground. Plainly, there are sensitivities or legalities involved that I'm not privy to. This makes me curious about the general reasons (specific examples must of course remain unexplained.) Any clues?

I think it has to do with how the pictures were stitched together combined with moisture or debris on the lens.

We would also have to abandon coal power plants if they were held to the same strict standards as nuclear plants. (Though radiation aside, the particulate pollution is a serious cause for concern...)

Indeed, just down the road from me in Juliette, Ga (where the Whistlestop Cafe is, from the movie) is a massive coal plant (plant Scherer). Last year (or maybe 2011, time span is hard - it's amazing to me that it's almost April) several people in the area got sick from Uranium poisoning. From the coal plant.

I did some work at Sellafield and THORP in the UK before moving to the US, and I never had to worry about radiation sickness. Or even when I spent 3 days next to a nuclear reactor built by a 17yo kid in his garage (Chad, you rock, although telling me where the radiation output was before I set up my laptop would have been nice!)

I did some work at Sellafield and THORP in the UK before moving to the US, and I never had to worry about radiation sickness. Or even when I spent 3 days next to a nuclear reactor built by a 17yo kid in his garage (Chad, you rock, although telling me where the radiation output was before I set up my laptop would have been nice!)

How dangerous is it to live there right now? The cleanup crew people didn't seem to be wearing any kind of protective gear (at least not gear protecting against radiations).

I'm wondering the same thing. Don't know very much about this sort of thing, hope somebody can jump in to explain.

Well, it's very dangerous...which is why no one IS living there. Most didn't even bother to collect any belongings.

The cleanup people don't have constant exposure and don't have to drink the water there, eat foods grown in the soil, nor be in constant contact with all the irradiated items (which is everything, right down to the beams and floors in your house). Cleanup people are probably getting some low level radiation, but I'm sure they only go in for a few hours at a time, monitor the environment with dosimeters, and scrub down afterwards. It's not like being right inside a crippled reactor, but long term exposure would accumulate.

Every time I see pictures of Fukushima they remind me of the callousness of men towards other men. No executive was hanged over this tragedy. None of those greedy bastards got murdered. No self-respecting politician demanded justice for those who got massacred.

We get that Darwin rules. What we don't get is that Darwin could be subverted to such levels of horror.

Why should anyone in Japan or anywhere else be surprised that something like this happened? I mean building a nuclear plant in a earthquake prone country is already enough of an issue but building one right on the waters edge of a tsunami prone coastline is madness.

Who are you going hang? Obviously it was approved by the government and most Japanese people or it never would have been built there in the first place. This just goes to show that even first world countries can do things that boggles the imagination.

Well as has been said, the earthquake actually did very little damage to the reactor, and the tsunami's biggest affect was the damage to the back-up generators it caused.

The reason the reactor was built on the coast was so it could use sea-water for emergency cooling, something that turned out to be a very good idea as it likely went a long way to prevent the reactor from going critical in this event.

I note many of the pictures have one or more blurred out rectangles. I can understand that this needs to be done sometimes, but I'm curious as to the reasons here. Sometimes it's a single character in an otherwise clear store sign, or a single photo among many in a storefront window, or a seemingly random patch of ground. Plainly, there are sensitivities or legalities involved that I'm not privy to. This makes me curious about the general reasons (specific examples must of course remain unexplained.) Any clues?

I think a lot of it has to do with Google Street View's face and licence plate detection algorithms. They automatically blur out licence plates and faces to protect privacy, but sometimes it amusingly blurs out other things. http://www.google.com/help/maps/streetview/privacy.html

it looks like even the "orange" areas, which have 100mSv/year dose, are perfectly safe for humans, per the following definition:

In 2012 the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation stated that for typical background radiation levels (1-13 mSv per year) it's not possible to account for any health effects and for exposures under 100 mSv.

Now, the Japanese government has chosen an 8-step scale going from ≤ 0.5 mSv/yr to 100 mSv/yr, with a final and 9th step being > 100 mSv/yr and being designated "red". It is difficult to say if the "red" area covers a range from > 100 mSv/yr to, say, 150 mSv or, say, 1,000 mSv.

In any event, it is clear the fourteen "red" areas are not very large. The very largest one is just a bit larger than Central Park in New York and the total of the fourteen "red" areas is maybe three Central Parks?

To put this in perspective, this would be nine ten-thousandths of 1% of the area of Japan (0.0009%).